Coping and symptomatological dimension of the personality study in a workshop of sewing

This article reports a study carried our in the sewing workshop of the Peug eot automobile factory in Vesoul, on 78 female workers. Among other objecti ves, the study examined strategies of adjustment to stress by the seamstres ses and to link these with certain dimensions of their personality. Two sca les were used : the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS of Endl er and Parker, French adaptation of Jean-Pierre Rolland) and the Symptom Ch eck List (SCL-90-R of Derogatis). The results give evidence for the preferential choice by the seamstresses o f the coping Emotion and Avoidance by distraction. The staff made few attem pts to solve the problem, to restructure it on the cognitive plan, to modif y the situation or to try to find solutions to difficult and frustrating si tuations. One can wonder then about the efficiency of these strategies of s tress adjustment as far as the quality of the worker's life is concerned, s uch as emotional withdrawal, the intellectualisation of the problem, behavi ours of action, the fantasmatisation and somatic reactions. The analysis of relationships between styles of coping and dimensions of pe rsonality seems to indicate the influence of some symptomatic traits on the adoption of the reply mode to stress and a particular investment in some s trategies of coping. Alone, the strategy of Avoidance is not characterized by a symptomatic dimension. The "somatic" workers, for example, seem to ove rinvest cognitive problem restructuring strategies and seek a way in relati onships with other persons to calm the stress down. Those that have felt an inadequacy and personal inferiority in comparison with others emphasize th e modification of the situation and attempt to solve crises wing the intell ectual plan. It is also the case that those female workers with a a depress ive, tendency tend to avoid the stressful situation by distraction with oth er situations or tasks and by rejecting emotional reactions. One can nor ho wever assert that only the dimensions of the personality account for how in dividuals react or will react in a given situation. The conclusions reflect how the staff members are affected by their experie nces of identity destabilization and by their claim of a professional ident ity.